Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama hold the top two positions in the initial BCS Standings for 2011. Their positioning only heightens the anticipation for their key SEC showdown on Nov. 5. Oklahoma, which remains number one in the USA Today Coaches Poll, checks in at No. 3, with Oklahoma State at No. 4 - the Sooners and Cowboys meet on Dec. 3 in their annual "Bedlam" game, which will be played in Stillwater this year. Boise State is rated No. 5 in the BCS Standings. The top two teams in the final BCS standings play in the Allstate BCS National Championship game in New Orleans this year (Monday, Jan. 9).

"The release of the first BCS Standings is always an exciting time in college football, although history suggests that the first standings and final standings don't always have much in common," said BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock. Everyone loves to talk about our standings and that's one reason why college football's regular season is so exciting. For a team to qualify for a bowl game or the National Championship Game this year, every game is going to count."

The top eight teams in the standings are all undefeated - matching the top eight in the AP Poll, though not in the same order.

Wisconsin is the highest-ranked Big Ten team, checking in at No. 6 overall, followed by the ACC's surprising Clemson Tigers, who had a strong of three straight wins over ranked teams earlier this year. Stanford is rated at No. 8, the top slot for the Pac-12. Arkansas is the highest-rated of the one-loss schools at No. 9, giving the SEC its third top-10 school - the Razorbacks lone defeat was to second-ranked Alabama. Oregon rounds out the top-10 with its only loss coming at the hands of No. 1 LSU, making the SEC the only conference with victories over top-10 teams to its credit.

Other undefeated teams in the initial standings are No. 11 Kansas State and No. 19 Houston. The other SEC schools in the ratings are No. 14 South Carolina, which found out today that it lost star running back Marcus Lattimore for the season to a knee injury, and No. 20 Auburn, the defending national champs.

Overall, the SEC has five teams in the top 25 (all in the top 20), second only to the Big Ten, which has six Top-25 teams. The Big 12 also has five teams ranked, while the ACC has four top-25 programs and the Pac-12 has three. Boise State (Mountain West) and Houston (Conference USA) are the only schools representing non-automatic qualifying conferences.